ISTANBUL

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Nazar al-Khairalla will attend international talks on the Syrian crisis taking place on Oct. 30 in Vienna.

Iran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest regional ally, is also expected to attend following a request from Moscow for wider participation.

Some 285 members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were arrested in Turkey in the first nine months of 2015, according to figures by the Prime Ministry's Office of Public Diplomacy.

Istanbul's gas grid ?GDA? may be privatized through an initial public offering rather than through a bloc sale method, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topba? has said, adding that the authorities would like to sell the grid to city locals.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputies will attend Syria peace talks in Vienna on Oct. 30, the semi- official ISNA news agency reported. 

"Deputy Foreign Ministers Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi will accompany Zarif on this trip," foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying by ISNA. 

Turkey's Zorlu Energy has signed $815 million in loans with four banks to refinance the existing debts of its Zorlu Do?al Elekrik Üretim and finance its planned geothermal power plant project in Denizli, the company announced in a statement to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) on Oct. 27. 

The United States continues to have concerns over the right to free media and free speech in Turkey, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby has said in his answer to a question on the seizure of Koza ?pek, a corporation with links to the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) ally-turned-nemesis Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. 

Istanbul police used force on Oct. 28 to enter the headquarters and seize control of media outlets owned by the Koza-?pek Group, dramatically breaking into the main broadcasting room and shutting down two TV stations owned by the group.

Police used water cannon and tear gas early Oct. 28 to enter Koza ?pek Holding's media group headquarters in Istanbul to implement a court order to seize control of the holding. Police and newly-appointed trustees later entered the main control room, causing disruption in the broadcast. The broadcast briefly went off air.

During a police operation in the northern province of Tokat, a nearly millennia-old gilded Bible has been seized, while 10 people were taken into custody as part of the operation. 

Social media users who insulted German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been sentenced to two-and-a-half-year prison terms, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said, while complaining that insults against him have been, however, appreciated by politicians in the country.